promise
by akkyylle
Summary: -SasuSaku- Sasuke takes her hand and places it over his, a lone tear slipping across his pale cheeks as he begs her for another chance. This time, he'll do it right. – "I will make it up to you, I promise."


_**-promise-**_

* * *

**A/N: **Here's another one-shot for you to feast on. Sadly, it's a tragedy but I hope I pulled it off decently enough to fit your likings. SasuSaku pairing as usual. :D

Also, those requesting for a sequel for _gotcha!_, please be patient. I'm working on it. ^^

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto, or any of its characters.

* * *

Summary: _Sasuke takes her hand and places it over his, a lone tear slipping across his pale cheeks as he begs her for another chance. This time, he'll do it right. – "I will make it up to you, I promise."_

* * *

A heavy downpour makes it way down from the clouds above, pouring all over the vast land of the village hidden in the leaf. Vendors struggle to make haste as they reach out to clean up their goods. The other villagers rush over to the comfort of their own homes, all blissfully unaware of the chaos and turmoil the Konoha hospital is suffering from.

A window can be heard slipping shut as heavy raindrops continue to pour.

* * *

A single glance at the hospital is enough for a person to realize that the building is being turned upside down.

Doctors and nurses are running around frantically, a large number clustered together as they move around a single bed. Tsunade can be seen barking out orders at an unbelievable pace, and Shizune is prancing around, searching door to door for tools she will be needing in undergoing an important operation. Every medic appears to be panicking as they hang on to Tsunade and Shizune's every word. It's all they can do to keep themselves from losing their sanity as they struggle to help save the dying patient they have at hand. But something seems to be amiss, as not a single soul in the frantic hospital was searching or calling out for the infamous pink-haired medic.

Haruno Sakura is nowhere to be seen.

* * *

Drops continue to pour down mercilessly as the people of Konoha retire to their respective homes, trying their best to ignore the thundering roars and horrifying crackles of the weather outside. Almost every being was enjoying the comfort of their personal shelters, savoring cups of hot drinks in front of faintly lit chimneys as they do what they can to warm themselves up.

Nobody notices the brooding man slowly trudging through the empty streets outside the comfort of their homes.

His raven locks were drenched in the rain, causing the shade to turn a little bit darker than normal. Obsidian orbs gazed down the wet pavement he was walking on, ignoring the heavy downpour crashing down his muscled form. He put his hands inside his pockets as he drew his feet into a complete halt.

The man stood utterly still in the middle of the deserted street, head hung down as he welcomed the rain. His white ninja robe soaking in every drop of rain the heavens poured down on him. The man can be seen shifting his right hand ever so slightly in his pocket, as if searching for something worth holding on to. He pulls out his hand, a familiar looking hitai-ate appearing in his grasp.

The hitai-ate he held had a slight scratch across the hidden leaf symbol, giving a clue as to who it belonged to. Uchiha Sasuke remained standing in the pouring rain, his posture rigid and his form unmoving as his obsidian eyes stared down the hitai-ate in his grasp. A closer look at the item in his hands reveals a slight marring of the scratch, forming something akin to a cross. He shuts his obsidian eyes slowly as he brings the item close to his chest, as if relishing the feeling of being able to hold it so close to him.

A pained teardrop makes its way down his face as the pouring rain hides away any trace of a tear.

* * *

Another day starts, the sun shining down brightly as two women walk through the dirt path heading away from the Konoha hospital. Dull, yellow hair adorns the head of the older woman while dark brown locks can be seen on the much younger one. The weather looked promisingly good, no traces of dark, gloomy clouds and the absence of the deep blue shade covering the sky providing proof to the thought.

Too bad the same cannot be said about how the two women were feeling right now.

"Let's head over to the Hokage tower." Tsunade chokes out meekly. "I need my sake."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." She answers curtly in return.

It was all Shizune could do to help calm the whiplash of emotions she knew her mentor was feeling right now.

But as the more she thinks about the situation, the more she asks herself this. What can she do about her own emotional turmoil?

* * *

_-beep, beep, beeeep,_

The sound of the heart rate monitor fills the room, as all the people sitting exasperatedly inside stay completely quiet. Waiting for something they were unsure of happening.

_-inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale….. inhale._

The patient's chest heaves slowly, her breath hitching every other time. She looks extremely painful to watch, causing each person standing inside the white hospital room to refuse to turn their gazes back to her fragile body lying motionless on the hospital bed.

_-his earnest smile, the toothy grin fading quickly as soon as he steps foot in the room._

Spiky, yellow hair angling out in every direction. Passionate blue eyes widening in horror, then softens in built up guilt and compassion. A hand covers his gaze as he stays rooted to the spot, painfully aware of the person lying utterly still on the hospital bed in front of him.

He never expected to see her unconscious. He longs to see her smiling face and hear her angelic voice.

_-one eye covered by a hitai-ate, the other looking down almost immediately upon seeing the girl lying motionless on the bed._

The man with spooky silver hair and a cloth covering almost half of his face looks up to observe the scene playing out in front of him.

Heartbreakingly, he watches as his two students break down in agony.

_-the brooding man in the corner of the room, arms crossed as obsidian eyes stay glued to the person barely breathing in front of him._

His back leans against the wall behind him, his unruly raven locks sweeping across his eyes, hiding his obsidian orbs from the probing gazes of the two other men inside the room.

He doesn't want them to see him like this. He can't take seeing her like this.

_-the woman in the bed remains motionless, except for the slight yet constant heaving of her chest. eyes are closed shut, refusing to reveal the bright viridian orbs everyone is longing to see._

It has been three days since an unconscious Haruno Sakura had been brought to the hospital by no other than Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

A sake bottle was being gulped down in a single shot.

"Bring me more of my sake, Shizune." Tsunade slurs to her apprentice, finishing off another bottle. Several empty bottles can be seen littering the Hokage's once empty desktop.

"Demo, Tsunade-sama.. You've had too much, don't you think?" Shizune bleaks out, her sweet voice shaking as her hands begin to tremble. "I know things aren't going well, but-"

"You're right as hell when you say things aren't going well." Tsunade roars out, gritting her teeth as she thinks back on the gravity of the situation. "She's not responding to any medication I give her."

She has to bite her lips in effort to fight back the tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

Shizune fumbles for the right words to say, knowing full well saying the wrong ones would only aggravate her mentor even further, and both of them didn't need that right now.

"Tsunade-sama, what exactly is wrong with her?" She nears the drunken Hokage. "What happened?"

She didn't have time to prepare herself for the horrifying information her mentor was about to tell her.

* * *

"_Sakura." Sasuke calls out fiercely as he shakes her motionless body. "Sakura, damnit, wake up! Stay with me."_

_No response._

"_Who are you, and what did you do to her?" He yells out to the other man in their presence. "Why won't she wake up?"_

_A frighteningly familiar chuckle meets his ears._

"_Hmm, I never thought she'd be that weak. I simply put her mind at ease." Says a deep, velvet voice. "In other words, I put a genjutsu on her. One she won't be able to get out of herself."_

_Sasuke grits his teeth. Why did he have to do this to Sakura, of all people?_

_He looks around, frantically searching for the source of Sakura's tragic downfall. He sees nothing, but he senses a presence only a few meters away from them._

_He was about to pounce on the culprit when he feels Sakura jerking suddenly in his arms, her breathing turning ragged until it came to a complete stop._

_Panicking, he calls out to her, cupping her smooth face in his rough hands. "Sakura, what's wrong? Why aren't you breathing?" Frantically, he starts pumping his hands on her chest, his mouth covering hers and giving her air._

_She doesn't respond._

_Another horrifying chuckle meets his ears, sounding much closer this time. He turns around, finding the culprit standing just a few inches from where he was crouching. His head was titled to the side, tongue darting in and out of his grinning mouth._

_Orochimaru._

_Sasuke hisses angrily as he sheaths his kusanagi, dashing forward to strike directly through the snake man's heart._

_His sword connects and pierces through the thick flesh, fresh blood spurting out from the deep wound he had just created._

_Orochimaru coughs up blood, but his eerie grin never left his mouth. He darts out his tongue, licking up the blood he spurted all over his abnormally pale face. Sasuke twists his kusanagi inside the snake's body, intending to deepen the cut he made. Fresh blood spurts out, as he coughs up more._

"_Very good, Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru chokes as he coughs up more of his own blood. His lips start to turn white, as he opens them again to utter his last words. "I had planned to die by your hand, and I leave this world with no regrets. Besides, I did what I knew would shatter you more than if I physically harm you. She has six days to live, Sasuke-kun. You have approximately five days to spend with the one you love so foolishly."_

_He chuckles for one last time. "Her death will be your downfall, that I assure you. You should've known better than to actually feel."_

_Sasuke draws his sword out of his body, and lets it drop to the ground. He takes one last look at the fallen sannin before piercing his sword through his heart once more, ending the sannin's life instantly._

_He rushes over to Sakura's still motionless body, putting his fingers to her neck, feeling her pulse points. He feels a faint beat, and he checks to see if she's regained her breathing._

_Sasuke sighs in relief at the heaving of her chests, albeit slightly._

_He picks up her body carefully, putting her safely on his back before running full force towards the direction of the village hidden in the leaf._

* * *

"I don't exactly know what that stupid Orochimaru did to her," Tsunade pauses as she fixes herself up. "but all I know is, what he told Sasuke was true."

Shizune stuttered as she voices out her question. "W-which part is true, exactly?"

Tsunade sighs in defeat. "Three days have passed since she was brought back by Sasuke. She has four days left, and time doesn't seem to be on our side."

"Isn't there a way for her to recover from this nightmare? Or at least, lengthen her living days?" Her apprentice suggests, closing her eyes and wishing there was some way they could help the poor girl.

"She hasn't even woken up yet, Shizune. We're doing everything we can, but nothing seems to be working. She's still the same as before, unconscious, breathing but she's slowly dying. I can feel it when I let my chakra flow on her." Tsunade mutters dejectedly. "She will wake up though, but it does not mean she will get better."

"Then, we're just waiting for her death? We just wait and see how her life fades away, stay back and watch as she dies in front of everybody she loves?" Shizune replies with a whimper, tears now flowing down her face as she wraps her arms around herself in an effort to calm her down.

Tsunade gazes painfully at her apprentice, her eyes taking in the sight of a strong woman breaking down in front of her. And she can't blame her, she wanted to break down herself. To just cry it all out, cursing Orochimaru with all her wits for doing this to her apprentice, to her precious Sakura. But she knew she had to be strong. She had to be strong for Sakura, for Shizune, for team seven and for all the other people close to her dearest apprentice's heart.

It was all she could do to prevent herself from losing her sanity.

* * *

_-tick, tick, tick. two days, approximately 48 hours and 15 minutes left._

A pair of eyes slowly flutter open, revealing dull viridian orbs. Seeing her open her eyes, Sasuke quickly rushes towards the pink-haired medic, taking her hand in his and calling out her name in a sigh of relief.

"Sakura. Finally, you wake up. You got us all worried there." He mutters gently, his obsidian eyes softening in both worry and relief at the sight of her.

Sakura can't help but giggle lightly at the softness of his tone. "Since when did you learn to talk to me in that tone, Sasuke-kun?" She jokingly says to him with a smile, hiding away the rush of pain she felt when she reached out her hands to touch his pale face. Noticing his worried expression, she forces herself to speak. "What's wrong, Sasuke-kun? What are you worried about?"

Before Sasuke could speak, a loud slamming of the door announces Naruto's arrival. He drops the ramen he was previously holding, thankfully it wasn't opened yet, when he saw Sakura smiling eagerly at him

Neither of them notices how her hand trembles, or how she was holding back her tears.

"Sakura-chan! You're awake!" Naruto excitedly yells, instantly dashing towards the other side of Sakura's bed. "Geez, Naruto. Thank you for informing me of the obvious." Sakura says teasingly, sticking her tongue out to him.

"How are you feeling, Sakura-chan?" – "How do you feel right now?"

The two boys say in unison.

Sasuke glares as Naruto sticks out his tongue, and Sakura couldn't help but laugh at their childishness.

"I'm feeling fine, you two. Never been better." She says as she forces herself to smile. "So, please don't fight. Or else I'll die from stress." She nearly put her hands to her mouth to cover her little slip. Thankfully, neither notices as they continue their childish antics.

Little does she know, every detail failed to escape Sasuke's sharp eye, and it only made him worry even more.

* * *

"I hear from Naruto that she has woken up." The silver-haired jounin informs the Hokage sitting in front of him. "He seemed happy, thrilled even. It makes me wonder, does he know?" He pauses a bit before adding, "does Sasuke know?"

Tsunade sighs, ignoring the sinking feeling in her chest. "No, they don't. I haven't informed anyone aside from you and Shizune." She turns her head up to him, her gaze giving away all the pain she currently feels. "Because I know, that's how she would have wanted it."

"I feel sorry for them." Kakashi mutters quietly. "It breaks my heart, seeing my students like that. I can't help but feel that it was partly my fault Sakura is in this predicament."

His gaze drifts off to the window beside him, pretending to observe the scenery outside. He closes his eyes as he thinks of what would happen in two days' time.

"Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault. If anyone is to blame, it's that stupid snake man." Tsunade hisses the last part. "But what's done is done, and we can't do anything to reverse the jutsu he planted on her brain."

Kakashi sighs dejectedly. "Aren't we going to tell them? Or, Sasuke at least."

Both figures froze when a deep voice resonates throughout the room.

"Tell me what, exactly?"

* * *

_-tick, tick, tick. one day, approximately 24 hours and 15 minutes left._

She could feel her life fading away quickly, her breathing becoming considerably slower as her heart skips a beat more often than yesterday. This was no surprise to her. From the moment the jutsu was cast on her, the way her body suddenly dropped to the ground, her eyes instinctively closing shut, she felt it. She felt the damage being done to her mind and body every passing minute. And as a medic, she could feel that there was no way to cure her, no way of reversing this tragic jutsu.

Sakura inwardly slaps herself for her foolishness. If she hadn't followed Sasuke out of the village, she wouldn't be in this messy predicament. Damn Orochimaru. Suddenly, thinking about the raven-haired man made her wonder briefly, why did she follow him in the first place?

Then suddenly everything that happened before she was attack comes rushing back to her mind in an alarming pace. She put her hands on her head, fingers gripping her pink locks tightly in effort to lessen the headache that came with the memories. Thankfully, Sasuke went out to buy a drink and Naruto hadn't come yet, so nobody saw how much pain she was really in.

They were fighting, yes, that was it. Sasuke, someone whom she couldn't call her lover but she knew held a special place within her heart. He was angry at something he shouldn't even bother about, and that was what ticked her. He was being too overprotective over a meaningless thing.

Sighing, she puts her hands back in her lap and turns her gaze to the beautiful scenery outside the hospital window.

* * *

"_Tell me what, exactly?"_

_The bodies conversing privately earlier had froze, and neither could look at him in the eye. Seeing the Hokage and his ex-sensei behaving like this made him grit his teeth. They made him worry all the more, damnit. As if Orochimaru's taunting words weren't horrifying enough._

"_I heard everything," he scoffs. "so tell me what the hell is going on. Is what that stupid snake sannin said true? Are her days really being counted?" He tries so hard to hide the pain in his tone, but he found that he could no longer hold it in, and he chokes._

"_Since you heard everything, I presume you are already aware of what's wrong with her." Tsunade states firmly as Kakashi keeps his mouth closed, his eyes looking down and refusing to meet Sasuke's obsidian orbs. "And yes, sadly, what Orochimaru said is true." She chokes out, biting back the sob threatening to spill out. "She has approximately twenty-four hours left, before all her organs shut down completely."_

"_No. There has to be a way, find a way, Tsunade!" Sasuke yells out in protest, not bothering to hold back the tear that escaped his eyes. "Damnit, you're the freakin' Hokage and you can't even save one person?" Sasuke grits his teeth, knowing full well he wasn't mad at her for not being able to save Sakura. He was angry at himself. For being the fool, being too sensitive and overreacting. If he had just been more considerate, more open-minded, they wouldn't have been wandering off outside the village in the first place._

_Tsunade turns her gaze downward, refusing to look at the breaking man in front of her. She knew, full well how they ended up outside the village gates. But although she knew the reason, she couldn't find it in herself to blame Sasuke for what happened._

_Because she also knew, that this grieving avenger in front of them had a heart that purely belongs to Sakura._

* * *

_-approximately 16 hours and 15 minutes left._

Sasuke slides the door open to Sakura's room, immediately taking in her sleeping form. Sixteen hours, he thought to himself. He only had sixteen hours to spend with his dying companion. As he walks towards the side of her bed, his thoughts drift briefly to the woman in front of him. Does she know? Being a medic herself, it's impossible to be unaware of what's happening to her body. But why did she keep it from us, from me?

He hears her sigh, and her eyes slowly flutter open to reveal dulling viridian orbs. Her skin looked so pale, too abnormally pale and her body seemed to have thinned considerably. He forces a pained gulp down his throat at the sight of her.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun." She tries to say cheerfully, but it did not fool either of them. "I'm so glad you've come to visit again. We never did have the chance to talk, didn't we?" She smiles bitterly, holding back the tears she didn't want him to see.

"Sixteen hours." He says chokingly as he makes a move to sit on the chair right beside her bed. "You only have sixteen hours left, are you aware of that?"

A meek nod confirms his suspicions.

"Why did you hide from us? Naruto, and me?" he says in a soft tone, refusing to make the same mistake twice. It was his unnecessary anger that brought her here in the first place, and he wasn't about to risk it again.

"I didn't want you to know, because I didn't want you to worry." She answers him gently. "I was afraid you'd blame yourself again, when we both know it wasn't your fault."

"I'm sorry, Sakura. I'm so sorry." Sasuke takes her hand and places it over his, a lone tear slipping across his pale cheeks as he begs her for another chance. This time, he'll do it right. "I will make it up to you, I promise." He could feel his heart breaking and he couldn't do anything to stop it. "Just please, _please _stay with me. Don't leave me, Sakura. You know you're the only one who could make me happy." He begs her painfully, heartbreakingly. "Can't you stay with me?" But he knew, it was impossible. She was dying and they couldn't do anything about any of it.

Sakura takes his hand in hers, tears flowing down her cheeks as she fumbles for the right words to say. She knew she shouldn't promise him anything, not when she had only sixteen hours to live. As she turns her viridian orbs directly to his shaking form, she utters the only words she knew would be the best promise she could ever give to him.

"I love you, Sasuke-kun." And he brings her to his arms, letting his tears fall as he savors the feeling of feeling her heart beat against his.

Sixteen hours after they say their promises, Haruno Sakura dies.

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**A/N**: Well, what do you think? Did I pull it off decently? :D

Please read & review! Thanks. :)

love_love_love. :3


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